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NAHBS 2012 – Calfee’s SuperClean Di2 Bar-Stem Combo and Wild Tandems!

NAHBS 2012 Calfee bamboo belt drive disc brake tandem with internal gear hub
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NAHBS 2012 Calfee bamboo belt drive disc brake tandem with internal gear hub

Calfee always has a few nice items in their booth, but this year they pulled out all the stops. While tandems may not be your thing, they had THREE of them, all with some incredibly cool tech that could be built onto just about any of their bikes. Beyond that, they’ve expanded their set of internal Di2 offerings and updated the PowerPost seatpost/battery combo with an external charging port.

The bamboo tandem above was designed to be a do anything, go anywhere bike. It’s equipped with disc brakes, Gates Belt Drive for both the timing and drive chain mated to a Rohloff internally geared hub.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee bamboo belt drive disc brake tandem with internal gear hub

Plenty of tandems at the show had a belt timing chain, but this bike used them all the way ’round. A dynamo front hub powered the headlamp, and a double handlebar provides plenty of room for accessories and packs. Clearance for the rear disc rotor was tight, but it looked sweet.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber mountain bike tandem with single-sided timing chain and one piece integrated handlebar and stems with di2 electronic shifting

Other than Kent Eriksen and his wife and the occasional random couple, we’ve not see too many folks willing to race off road on a tandem. If you were going to do so, this would be one sweet rig to do it with. Up front, a dual crown White Brothers fork handles the extra loads, but the real cool details are closer in…

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber mountain bike tandem with single-sided timing chain and one piece integrated handlebar and stems with di2 electronic shifting

Rather than put a special crankset with the timing chain on the non-drive side, Calfee simply flip-flopped the position of the big/small rings on a standard crankset and ran the timing chain on the outside. Yes, that’s some pretty tall gearing for off road. At least you’ve got two people pushing the pedals. Oh, and yes, those are Di2 derailleurs…

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber mountain bike tandem with single-sided timing chain and one piece integrated handlebar and stems with di2 electronic shifting

Di2 remote shift pods were hacked to bolt onto Magura MT8 brake lever mounts. Both handlebars are molded into the stems, and the rear is then molded into the seatpost.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber breakaway tandem family bike with cable steering

Built for Calfee and his kid to ride, this carbon fiber tandem uses S&S couplers at the front and rear to allow different sections to fit onto the bike. With a child on the front, steering is handled in the rear via a cable-actuated mechanism:

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber breakaway tandem family bike with cable steering

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber breakaway tandem family bike with cable steering

Couplers at the rear of the bike let it break down compact enough to fit in a car, and it can add a third section or traditional stoker section as a family grows.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee Tetra Adventure cyclocross bike with disc brakes

Calfee’s Tetra Adventure cyclocross bike is now available with disc brakes. The carbon lugged construction can be dyed, too, as shown here in blue.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee carbon fiber lugs

They carve their own lugs, which takes a lot of time, but the result is both unique looking and pretty stiff. And what’s that on the left?

NAHBS 2012 Calfee had some eeCycleWorks eeCranks sweetwings prototypes almost at production level

Why, yes, it is a darn-close-to-production version of the long awaited eeCranks from eeCycleWorks.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee SuperClean bar-stem combo with integrated hidden Di2 control box and wiring and PowerPost seatpost with hidden battery and external charging port

Cosmetically, Shimano’s Di2 control box is an eyesore. While the Big S has now announced a seat tube battery like Calfee’s original PowerPost, the builder has one-upped them again by building a bar/stem combo with internal placements for the box. Above, there’s no wiring or anything visible.

NAHBS 2012 Calfee SuperClean bar-stem combo with integrated hidden Di2 control box and wiring and PowerPost seatpost with hidden battery and external charging port

Underneath, you have an access hole and another hole to see the light for any troubleshooting purposes. The PowerPost now has an external charging port at the top so you don’t need to remove your seatpost to charge it.

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Caseofthemondays
Caseofthemondays
12 years ago

Pretty sure I would snap that carbon tandem if I took it shredding down some trails with the significant other. I know its carbon and all, but I just don’t trust all that integrated handlebar/stem/seatpost combination stuff.

Derek
Derek
12 years ago

Do you have any more pictures of the steering on the tandem?

Chipollini
12 years ago

Does anyone know who makes the chain on the mountain tandem? I like the color…

KMC
KMC
12 years ago

That is the KMC DLC X10SL chain in Red/Black

KMC
KMC
12 years ago

The chain showcases on the eeCranks is the X10SL DLC all black version. DLC (Diamond Like Coating)

Mark Ifi
Mark Ifi
12 years ago

probably excellent craftsmanship, but stupid structural designs. the parents’ tandem is just plain weird. why would you not offload stress in the middle of the frame? there is weight benefits to be made here. and i trust these are light bikes already but I for one just couldn’t own something which is this wrong in shape. is anybody with me on this?

Craig Calfee
12 years ago

Took the family tandem out for a few rides with Mateo (age 5) and it performs really well. I decided to not connect the top tube to boom tube directly in order to make it pack small for travel. The load path through the really short stoker seat tube seemed like it would handle it well – if the fiber was pointed in the right direction! That’s the beauty of working in carbon.

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